The Rivoli

“You could call it folk. Or rock. Or ambience. If you wanted to deny that parts make a whole. It is realer than that! It is love! Yes, love!” as the band Cairo describes themselves as which Mustafa and I totally agree on. They are one of the best, more importantly loveliest folk, rock, and orchestral alt pop bands in Toronto. It won’t take you long to fall in love with them once you see them on the stage; just close your eyes, follow the rhythm. Then BOOM! You are charmed. Officially. When I first saw them at Horseshoe back in 2013, I was hooked by dreamy lyrics, heavenly violin tunes and cottonous vocals of their first EP “Young Love”. And of course as any person in love would do, I took every opportunity to check their gigs whenever, wherever possible; Horseshoe, The Garrison, The Rivoli etc. And then, the day came! They were releasing a new album. As soon as I found out about it, as deary music we got them under the radar because we believe that every band member of Cairo loves making music. The band is formed by Nate Daniels (Vocals/Guitar), Matt Sullivan (Drums/Percussion), Caitlin Grieve (Strings/Vocals), Dante Berardi Jr (Guitar/Vocals/Synth) and Joel Dalton (Bass/Key/Synth) They have been playing in the city since 2011. They make something that it comes in the bottom of their hearts. That was pretty much why they were under our radar and we were pretty curious and excited to hear the new tunes of their new album “A History Of Reasons”. As you would predict, we went to the gig to cover their live performance.

They started the set with the song “A History of Reasons” which has a super cool intro within soft vocals and fragile violin tunes. The song itself tells the story and carries the all the elements of folk, pop and rock. The Rivoli’s perfect lighting and sound system also helped everyone to experience the song in a different level. That was one of the best moments of the night. They continued the set with “With You”, “Age/Sex/Race”, “Kingdoms”, “Render” and “Starry Eyes”. We must say that we loved pretty much all songs but “With You” was one of the our favourites. We were a little bit disappointed the fact that they didn’t play any other songs from the previous EP called “Young Love”. We wish we could listen “Selfish” and “Addict” at that night.

It was a very short but also a very fun set. We had a great grasp of the new album. And it’s enough talk about our good fortune. We have 3 great news for you: First great news is NOW the album is available to purchase. And you can order it online! Second great news is they are going to tour in UK so even if you are not in Toronto anymore or ever been and if you are somewhere close to UK, here is an opportunity to see a lovely Canadian band. That’s pretty sweet, eh? Highly recommended to follow their Facebook page and track their upcoming shows in Toronto and UK. Third great news: We have two videos in the bottom for you to hear their tunes. If you are patient enough to watch a 16 minutes video, you can almost watch the whole concert but if you think you don’t have time – which we can understand – here is a 4 minutes short video from that night. Enjoy and support local music! Cheers! Itir & Mustafa